Taste of Home, the # 1 Cooking Magazine in America, Kicks-off the 2nd Annual National Cooks Who Care Week November 9th-15th, 2009

GREENDALE, Wis., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Taste of Home, the # 1 cooking magazine in the world, kicks off the 2nd annual National Cooks Who Care Week (November 9th-15th) with a variety of food-related, charitable acts to help those in need. The Cooks Who Care program celebrates ordinary people who are using a recipe or a home-cooked meal to provide help for those less fortunate. In honor of those selfless individuals who have given back, Taste of Home will host a series of events to engage and inspire others to become Cooks Who Care. The first event is a special appearance by Editor-in-Chief of Taste of Home, Catherine Cassidy, at the 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson Street, New York City, on Monday, November 9th. Following the New York City kickoff, the Taste of Home staff in Milwaukee will participate in a week of volunteering, food drives, bake sales, cooking classes and even a kitchen drive to outfit 24 apartment kitchens for struggling families. More information about National Cooks Who Care Week and these local efforts can be found at www.Tasteofhome.com.

"Taste of Home was honored to run its first Cooks Who Care story in October 2006, then promptly turned it into a regular feature in the magazine," said Catherine Cassidy, Editor-in-Chief of Taste of Home. "We have dedicated the second week of November as National Cooks Who Care Week, in hopes we can spread the kindness, inspire others, and show how an act as simple as a home-cooked meal can change a life."

The National Cooks Who Care Week Kickoff at the 92YTribeca is a noontime event to honor the everyday people who use their culinary talents to make a difference in their communities and show others how to become a Cook Who Cares. In addition to the lunchtime chat, Catherine will demonstrate a few of the many dishes in the new Taste of Home Cookbook, Cooks Who Care Edition that can be used to feed a large group of hungry people or to raise money for a cause. From November 9th -15th, Taste of Home and the 92YTribeca will hold a food drive and donate the collected food to the Food Bank for New York City. To purchase tickets for Catherine's noontime talk, visit www.92ytribeca.com.

The Taste of Home Headquarters in Milwaukee is hosting an entire week of goodwill through multiple events, drives and volunteering. Throughout the month of November, the Taste of Home offices will collect food for Milwaukee's Hunger Task Force. The Taste of Home Cooking Schools (located throughout the country) will accept donations of canned goods to benefit local food banks.

Tasteofhome.com will highlight inspirational stories and offer advice and tips on how to get involved in a food-based volunteer effort. To find a Taste of Home Cooking School in your area, visit tasteofhome.com/cookingschools.

A weeklong kitchen drive at the Taste of Home offices, from Tuesday, November 10th, through Friday, November 13th, is dedicated to collecting kitchen items for 24 apartments in the Milwaukee area that are being fully furnished for needy local families. Several national manufacturers and local businesses have joined the effort, which is benefitting the United Methodist Children's Services, by donating appliances and other essentials; these companies include Ecko, Revere, Circulon, Hamilton Beach, Chicago Cutlery, Rishi Tea, Stone Creek Coffee Roasters, Pyrex, Baker's Secret, Corelle, CorningWare, Wilton and Magnalite.

National Cooks Who Care Week Calendar of Events

Monday, November 9th: Taste of Home employees will serve breakfast from 7 a.m.-10:15 a.m. at St. James' Episcopal Church (833 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee)

Tuesday, November 10th: The Taste of Home headquarters in Milwaukee will host an employee bake sale to raise money for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

Tuesday, November 10th: Taste of Home employees will donate their time and serve dinner from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. at the Salvation Army (445 Madison St., Milwaukee)

Wednesday, November 11th: Food Editor Peggy Woodward and Food Director Diane Werner will conduct an "Eat Smart" cooking class for 150 Boys & Girls Club members at the Mary Ryan Center (3000 N. Sherman Ave., Milwaukee), with a focus on healthier recipes. Also on Wednesday, Taste of Home will deliver home-baked cookies to Kathy's House, a non-profit organization that provides temporary housing for families of patients receiving care at local hospitals.

Wednesday, November 11th: Taste of Home employees will serve breakfast from 7 a.m.-10:15 a.m. at St. James' Episcopal Church (833 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee)

Sunday, November 15th: Taste of Home employees will serve dinner from 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m. at The Cathedral Center (845 N. Van Buren St., Milwaukee)

In addition, the community of Greendale, where Taste of Home headquarters are located, is supporting the Cooks Who Care effort: All month long, Greendale businesses as well as Greendale grade schools, middle school and Greendale High School will join Taste of Home in collecting non-perishable food items for the Milwaukee-based Hunger Task Force.

ABOUT COOKS WHO CARE

Cooks Who Care is a program created by Taste of Home to celebrate acts of caring by home cooks and communities across the country. Introduced as a magazine feature in October 2006, Cooks Who Care shares stories, in print and on-line at www.cookswhocare.com, of compassionate real people who give back through food. In 2008, Taste of Home dedicated the second week in November as the annual National Cooks Who Care Week, to reach beyond their readers and motivate others to join the Cooks Who Care movement.

ABOUT TASTE OF HOME

Taste of Home is a leading multi-platform producer of information on food, cooking and entertaining, serving home cooks with engaging media that capture the joy and comfort received from food made with love. Taste of Home publishes three magazines, including the flagship Taste of Home--America's largest cooking magazine, with a circulation of 3.2 million--Healthy Cooking and Simple & Delicious; top-selling bookazines; newsstand specials; and popular cookbooks. Traffic on tasteofhome.com increased 166 percent, to 2 million monthly UVs, from December 2007 to December 2008. Taste of Home is part of Food & Entertaining@RDA (The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.). More information can be found at http://www.tasteofhome.com.